


Falling Around You

by 20secondsofcourage



Category: The Bold Type
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 01:12:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19074454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/20secondsofcourage/pseuds/20secondsofcourage
Summary: Firsts are different.Set during 3.08 ("Revival")





	Falling Around You

**Author's Note:**

> How we have missed you, Adena. 
> 
> This is dedicated to sad Kat. Aisha plays heartbroken so well it kills me. 
> 
> Title from "Over You" by Ingrid Michaelson & A Great Big World  
>   
> \--  
>   
> 

**Hey. I’m in town  
** **Gallery opening**  
**Would really love to see you**

Kat stares at the text again. She’s lost track of how many times she’s imagined this scenario. Adena is here, in New York. And wants to meet in person. She rereads that last line and can’t help the pang of bitterness that surfaces.

**Would really love to see you**

_Yeah, well, would have really loved to see you too, Adena, at the Scarlet party in Paris. Or in the seat next to me on the plane home._

Let’s be real, she would have loved to have seen Adena on any of the midnights from the past few months, when her heart hurt too much to get even an hour of sleep, reminding her that she was not enough for Adena to want to stay and fight for them.

She hated feeling weak over this. She hated losing sleep over this. One night she even tried that self-soothing hug her parents taught her when she was little, crossing her arms around herself and squeezing really, really tight. She felt stupid and it didn’t work at all.

 

But she’s dating Tia now and Tia is great. She’s smart and playful and also grounded, and for someone new to the whole bedroom thing with another woman, wow, is she gifted. Tia is warm and really great, and being around Tia makes Kat feel like her old self - confident and strong and ready to fight for what she believes.

She flings her phone on the bed and pulls on the long patterned dress she chose for today. _It doesn’t matter anymore_ , she tells herself. None of it matters because Adena probably just wants to be mature and meet for closure and a proper farewell. And Kat can’t take that kind of pain.

Adena broke her heart into fucking smithereens, and it doesn't matter anymore. She needs to move on.

 

—

 

Kat’s text reply to Adena is sent, and she is giving the reporter a full office tour. She likes having the camera crew here, filming her being a pro in her element. Because she is damn good at her job, and if Reynolds thinks a couple of videos from her personal account are going to shut down this campaign then he has another thing coming to him.

She and Tia are walking their visitors out when she sees Jane step off the elevator and then - Adena.

 

Adena is standing right in front of her.

 

Adena looks _incredible_.

 

Kat’s heart is pounding as Adena moves to give her a brief hug and notices her braids. Fight or flight response kicks in and her brain is yelling _flight flight oh my God flight_ but Susan and Marcus did raise her with manners, at least, so she introduces Tia and tries to keep it together.

She realizes Tia is making an excuse to leave and yeah, that is going to be a _fun_ conversation later, but she tries to act natural while Adena stands in front of her, devastatingly gorgeous and collected.

Even Adena’s small talk is sincere, teasing Kat slightly about her phone usage. She tells Kat firmly that she would be great on city council, and all Kat can think about is how much she's missed her.

It’s overwhelming and nearly too painful to look Adena right in the eyes. She wants this uncomfortable exchange to be over but when it is, it hits her that she didn’t ask Adena a single thing about her life. Even though Jane and Adena are an awkward distance away, she calls out her question about the gallery show.

And then Adena’s short, polite _bye_ is a knife in her gut.

This is what they are now. Everything that happened before doesn’t matter anymore.

Forget about the night they spent tangled up in the Air Nazar lounge, or the moment Kat kissed Adena _there_ and watched her come apart, or that they lived together and cooked together and woke up together in Kat’s apartment after Peru.

Adena changed her life, and for a brief but intimate sliver of it, Kat was so giddy — so ridiculously happy to be Adena’s person.

 _I really loved you_ , she wants to shout suddenly as she stands there and watches Adena walk away past reception. _You broke my heart_.

God, this hurts so, so much and she feels dazed and completely raw.

She tries to take deep, calming breaths but can feel the sob building in her chest and in her throat and she doesn’t want to have a full breakdown by the Scarlet elevators so she heads to the restrooms and picks the last stall at the very end.

In a minute, once Jane is done with her meeting, they’ll go look for Sutton and she can vent to her two best friends in the fashion closet.

For now, she lets herself cry.

 

 


End file.
